I had a good friend whom I worked with at a record shop in Los Angeles called Dana, who was probably 20 years my senior or so, and he was always amazed at how I managed to retain so much information at a young age (I was 23 when I Continue Reading
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Chick Corea – Return to Forever
A legend has passed. Return To Forever was my gateway drug to 70s jazz fusion, opening the door to discovering the band bearing the same name, Miles Davis at the peak of his powers (at least for my taste), the majesty of Weather Report, and delving back into Chick Corea’s Continue Reading
Li Daiguo (李帶菓) – Xiao Gong (笑功)
French label WV Sorcerer Productions 巫唱片 offers up a quiet, pulsating drone album from American-Taiwanese-Chinese composer Li Daiguo. As far as experimental music goes, this is dark and foreboding in a far more organized way that what I’m used to hearing. Quite a fine effort.
Joseph Benzola – When You Get to Saturn, Make a Left.
I cannot think of any genre of music percussionist and composer Joseph Benzola doesn’t sound comfortable working in. There might be some bizarre concoction lying dormant in the underground somewhere, but it’s not worth wasting one’s time thinking much about. This collection puts together what sounds something similar to Balinese Continue Reading
Sublamp – Lianas
French imprint Eilean Records was a truly remarkable label with 100 releases of ambient and related musics. I was going through my collection today and came across this album I purchased sometime in 2018. Sublamp is a fellow Los Angelino, Ryan Conner, who is a sound and video artist by Continue Reading
Vedan Kolod – Gorodische
Vedan Kolod are a troupe based in Moscow, Russia, who do sterling work interpreting medieval Russian folkloric music, especially Siberian tunes, with a modern twist. The label, CPL, is run by my friend and colleague, Christian Pliefke, whose taste in artists is impeccable, and every release he’s curated for his Continue Reading
Rüstəm Quliyev – Azerbaijani Gitara
Rüstəm Quliyev’s story is one of tragedy. First, he was born in the Nagorno-Karabach area of Azerbaijan (contested by Armenia as recently as last year, where a small war was fought over the territory). The fighting was so bad in Quliyev’s youth that he had to flee. He would move Continue Reading
[Promo] Sahel Sounds Label Sampler 3
![[Promo] Sahel Sounds Label Sampler 3](https://musicyouneedtohear.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/e72acbe8-9f1f-43d8-9531-38e3117d8c1a.jpg)
From Sahel Sounds: We are excited to share with you our latest Name Your Price sampler, Sahel Sounds Label Sampler 3. This year’s features a mix of tracks from recent releases by the likes of Wau Wau Collectif and Tidiane Thiam, some deep cuts from our Agrim Agadez and Balani Show Super Hits compilations, fan favorites from Continue Reading
Departure Street – Everybody’s Leaving
From the bio: Allan J. Kimmel (aka Departure Street) is an American/French solo electric guitarist based in Paris France. He plays alternative ambient and neo-folk music with shoegaze & American blues underpinnings. I could not have said it more succinctly. This is not my first time reviewing Allan’s wonderful guitar Continue Reading
Tom Carter – Beautiful Saviour
Tom Carter was the guitarist of improvisers Charalambides, one of the heirs of fine Texas psychedelia. His new album, Beautiful Savior, comes as a pleasant, hopeful respite after being inundated by moronic ‘devil’-related titles. Is this an acid-Christian album? Who knows? The tones from this album speak for themselves. The Continue Reading